Chelsea in Cavani's sights

Edinson Cavani hopes Napoli can repeat their Manchester City exploits and eliminate Chelsea from the Champions League. “Anything can happen.”

EdinsonCavani hopes Napoli can repeat their Manchester City exploits and eliminate Chelsea from the Champions League. “Anything can happen.”

The Partenopei won the first leg 3-1 at the San Paolo, so the same result they got at the City of Manchester Stadium in the group phase (1-1) would see them qualify.

“It’s true I have already scored against City, but our objective is to get through to the quarter-finals, it doesn’t matter who we are facing,” said the striker in his press conference.

“Chelsea are a strong side, but we’ve been working for this for a long time and will really fight for it. It’ll be a wonderful moment when the referee blows the whistle to begin. We’ll try to feel this moment deep within us, regardless of the result.

“I expect to see the same strong Chelsea side that we faced at the San Paolo. We have already played in England against a strong team with passionate fans. We’ve got to be wary, as Arsenal proved anything can happen.”

The Gunners beat Milan 3-0 in London, threatening to overturn their 4-0 first leg defeat, so complacency is not an option.

Cavani has been repeatedly linked with a move to the Premier League for the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United.

“I think that playing alongside my teammates, not just Ezequiel Lavezzi and Marek Hamsik, is an honour. We have a great group of players and they always made me feel at home, just like in Uruguay.

“Now we are going through a great period of form, but we also went through bad patches. That’s football, it changes from one moment to the next and anything can happen. We could all play together for another five years or maybe not.

“We just have to concentrate and the transfer rumours are of no interest to me. I have to think about giving my team a hand, then we’ll see in the long-run.”